Chapter Text
“You want us to what?” Buck asks in confusion. Surely there’s been some mistake here, right?
“We want you to go undercover to help us with a case,” Athena repeats.
“Me and Eddie? As husbands?” He repeats her previous words back just to make sure that he’s hearing them right.
“Yes.”
“Why?” Eddie asks from his place beside Buck on the couch. They were currently at the station and had been eating lunch before Athena pulled them aside to talk.
“Because they’ve already seen me and Bobby. You two are the next best equipped to handle this.”
“Us?” Buck asks.
“Yes, you. Eddie was in the army, you trained with the SEALS and you’re both firefighters. Which is all knowledge that you may need.”
“What?” Eddie asks.
“It might be dangerous. We have reason to believe that this rehab center is only scratching the surface of what goes on in that casino.”
“So you think there’s what? Underhand deals? Mob ties? I mean, what exactly are we walking into Athena?” Eddie asks.
Athena sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Truthfully, we don’t really know. I wouldn’t ask unless it was absolutely necessary.”
Buck recognizes the look on Athena’s face and realizes that something else is wrong. “‘Thena? What is it?”
“They have May.”
“What?!” Buck asks in horror. He can feel Eddie tense next to him.
“She wanted to help me find out who killed Wendall. I shouldn’t have let her go in.” Athena takes a steadying breath. “I underestimated the danger.”
“But she’s okay? She’s alive?” Eddie asks because he knows Buck is too scared to.
“She’s safe for now. She’s a patient at the rehab facility. As long as she stays out of the way, she’ll be safe.”
“Why don’t we just go in and get her?” Buck asks.
“We don’t have a warrant yet. That’s what we need you for. Gathering information.”
“So if we do this, then you’ll have enough for a warrant, and we can get May out of there.”
“Yes.”
Buck takes a breath and turns to look at Eddie. “Eds?”
Eddie sighs. “Buck. You can’t be serious.”
“May needs our help and Bobby’s still in jail. This could help both of them.”
Eddie bites his lip like he always does when he thinks. Buck’s always thought it was cute.
“What about Christopher?” Eddie asks.
“He can stay with me or Hen and Karen or Maddie and Chim, whoever he’d prefer.” Athena pipes up.
“Would we be able to tell him?” Buck asks. “Where we’re going?”
“I think he’s old enough to understand and keep it a secret.” Athena agrees.
“He will. As long as we explain it to him.” Eddie responds.
“And he’ll want to help May and Bobby,” Buck adds. Buck and Eddie share another look.
“How long will it take?” Eddie asks.
“A month at most, but I doubt it’ll be that long.”
“Will we be allowed to talk to anyone during that time?” Buck asks.
“Just me, I’m afraid, and each other obviously.”
“But what about our jobs?” Buck asks her with slight panic. “I don’t want to get fired again.”
“Easy Buckaroo, nobody said anything about getting fired. It’ll be a paid leave of absence that will be cleared by the Chief.”
Buck turns to look at Eddie again. He can’t tell what he’s thinking. Part of Buck is terrified at the idea of being isolated from his friends and family like this and from the job that he fought to get back to. The other part of him (the one that’s still buzzing from the lightning strike) is telling him that this would be fun; he would get to be like a secret agent, just like he’d wanted when he was little.
Most importantly he would be able to help three people who he cares about. People who have helped him so many times in his own life. So, really, the decision is made. He just needs to see if Eddie’s on board.
Eddie must be able to read the look on Buck’s face because he lets out a long-suffering sigh. “Buck…”
“Come on, Eds. Athena needs our help, and they’ll be there to back us up, right?” He directs the last part at Athena.
“We’ll have a team on standby at all times. We won’t let anything happen to you.” Athena promises.
“See,” Buck tells Eddie.
“I don’t know…” Eddie sighs again. He looks at Buck then at Athena, and then back at Buck again. He studies Buck’s facial expression and then softens. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Buck asks.
“Okay,” Eddie confirms.
“We’ll do it.” Buck turns back to Athena to confirm for both of them.
They get Buck and Eddie set up with a fake house and a fake car. They even have fake IDs.
Buck thinks the whole thing is very cool.
Although his favorite thing might be the wedding ring on his finger, it’s identical to Eddie’s and absolutely perfect. It makes his heart flutter every time he sees either one of them reflecting the light. He gets to be Eddie’s husband. He can’t even believe it.
Buck has to keep his first name since he hardly ever uses it anyway. He is Evan Perez, who is happily married to Lorenzo Perez. They’ve both decided that he’ll be Enzo for short. Honestly, Ens is close enough to Eds, so if he mixes up, he doubts anyone will notice.
They both look around the house a bit, trying to familiarize themselves with it. It’s nice and very modern. Everything looks expensive, but apparently, Lorenzo is loaded.
“I’m gonna go put my stuff away.” Buck calls before dashing up the stairs to see the master bedroom.
Oh, and that’s another thing! They are supposed to be married so there’s only one bedroom and, you guessed it, only one bed. It feels like the universe is mocking him. Everyone knows that he’s in love with Eddie.
Well, except for maybe Eddie (he’s still not sure if he doesn’t know or just doesn’t feel the same way, so he’s pretending to spare Buck’s feelings).
Anyway, the point is that everyone knows, and now Buck is going to be forced to live in a house, sleep in one bed, and be married to the love of his life who doesn’t know about Buck’s embarrassing crush.
So yeah. This is going to be great. No worries here.
At least it’s a nice bedroom. He sighs and starts putting his clothes away in the dresser.
“What’s wrong?” Eddie asks from the doorway.
Buck jumps. “Jesus, how long have you been standing there?”
Eddie shrugs. “Not long.” He gives Buck a look. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Evan…” Buck shivers. Holy shit. He has never liked his name before, but Eddie can say it all he wants. They had agreed to start using their cover names more to get used to it so they don’t screw it up when they’re out.
“What is it?” Eddie asks softly as he comes further into the room. Buck shrugs.
“Just weird, is all. Being away from everything…” He decides that this is better than the other thing he was thinking about, and it’s not exactly a lie because he always was thinking of this, too.
“I know. I get it.” Eddie tells him softly. “It’s just for a few weeks.” He reminds him.
“Just a few weeks,” Buck says with a nod. “We can do that.”
“Course we can. We’ve got each other’s backs.”
“Yeah, we do,” Buck answers softly.
“It’ll be over before we know it,” Eddie says.
“Yeah.” Buck’s not sure how he feels about the truth of that statement. He already misses his friends and his job, but having Eddie here is a dream. Finally having Eddie as his husband and living together and having to act all in love.
This is going to break his heart, isn’t it?
Well, it doesn’t matter.
Buck’s heart can break as long as Eddie never finds out how Buck feels. Buck refuses to lose him. He’ll just have to put on the performance of his life.
What could go wrong?
Tonight, they’re going to some underground poker game at a casino that Buck has never heard of. Athena says that there will be many high-profile criminals there, but most importantly, Carrie and Trey will be there. They own and run the Winding Path rehab facility where Wendall was killed.
So that’s their target. Buck and Eddie need to get into a game with them and gather as much information as they can.
They will be wearing wires under their suits. Their suits were preapproved by Athena.
Buck’s is red and velvety, and Eddie’s is blue with a black turtleneck.
That turtleneck definitely does not make Buck’s insides warm or anything. It’s fine.
Their story is that Lorenzo Perez is the only child of a wealthy businessman. He grew up traveling the world, and he has money to blow. He’s supposed to play the role of an investor—one who’s not afraid of nefarious things.
Evan is just his dotting husband. He’s got Lorenzo wrapped around his pretty finger. Basically, Buck is going to be the trophy husband.
Which is fine. He’s actually great at that role. His Buck 1.0 days have prepared him precisely for this moment. It’s just the fact that he’s going to have to use his skills on Eddie.
He’d very much like to use his skills on Eddie, but in a real way. However, fakely will have to do.
Buck takes a moment to steady himself before he gets out of the car. He knows Athena will be nearby with backup, so he’s not really in any danger. Plus, he has Eddie.
All they need to do is talk, and their wires will transmit the information back to Athena. It’s a simple plan. Buck’s still nervous.
He feels Eddie grab his hand. His heartbeat picks up (he really hopes Athena can’t hear that through the wire).
“Evan. It’s going to be fine.” Eddie tells him softly. Despite his nerves and the use of the name ‘Evan,’ Buck feels himself relaxing.
“Alright.” He breathes. “Let’s go baby.”
Eddie chuckles at him as they get out of the car.
They both fix their suits, and Eddie immediately grabs his hand again. Buck, being his dutiful husband, wraps his free hand around Eddie’s arm and tugs him closer. It’s a possessive move but also one that shows how ‘in love’ they are.
They chuckle at each other as they enter the casino. It’s got a red gothic vibe to it. Buck kind of likes it, honestly.
He’s busy studying the decor when Eddie lightly tugs his hand. “This way, Carino.” He tells him softly as he guides him to a table.
Buck’s heart is going to pound out of his chest if Eddie keeps this up.
“Evening. What’s the buy-in?” Eddie asks the table.
“Ten grand.” A man pipes up.
“Brilliant,” Eddie says with a shark-like smile. Buck has never seen that look on his face before.
Luckily, the department gave them money for this exact purpose. So they have more than enough to join the job.
“May I?” Eddie asks with a smug grin, telling the others that he knows the answer is yes but is still asking for the look of it.
“Be my guest.” A woman says this time. Buck thinks that might be Carrie.
Eddie takes a seat in the open chair to get his chips sorted.
“Come here, Carino,” Eddie says, tugging Buck so that he can sit on his knee. Buck goes without a fuss. He’s too shocked to do anything other than what Eddie tells him to, especially when he does it in that voice.
Jesus Christ.
Buck looks around, but nobody seems to notice or even care that Buck is on Eddie’s lap, so he decides to just go with it.
Chips are thrown around, and cards are dealt. Buck is very glad that he doesn’t need to be involved. Without his temporary lightning strike powers, he is terrible at poker.
“So,” Carrie begins. “What’s your story?” She asks as the game rolls on.
Eddie gives a disinterested hum. “The usual. Very useless but also very rich father. So at least there’s that.”
The rest of the table gives knowing chuckles, so Eddie must’ve said the right thing. Buck is very proud. Also, this whole competency thing is kind of doing it for him.
“What brings you here?” Another man around the table asks.
“Well, my Evan has always wanted to see the city of angels, so I figured we could hang out here for a while.” He shrugs. “Until it gets boring, that is.”
My Evan. My Evan. MY EVAN?!
“And if it doesn’t?” Carrie asks with an amused smirk.
“It will.” Eddie sighs. “I love him, but he has a short attention span.” He turns to look at Buck with love. “Don’t you, mi amor?”
“For everything but you,” Buck answers back easily.
They look at each other with fondness for a minute until Carrie swoons.
“You two are just so cute. Truly precious.” She states.
“Thank you,” Eddie tells her.
Buck leans back further into Eddie’s embrace so he can rest his head on his shoulder. To the others, it just looks like he’s overcome with love or boredom, but really, he’s feeling a bit like a zoo attraction, so he needs a minute.
“What do you do the rest of the time?” Carrie asks.
“I’m an investor,” Eddie tells her.
“In anything in particular?”
“Anything that catches my eye.” He tells her before he shuffles around some more of his cards.
Buck slides his nose against Eddie’s neck and breathes him in. Eddie takes the hand that has been holding Buck loosely around the waist and tightens it.
“Behave Evan.”
“I am behaving,” Buck tells him cheekily.
Eddie turns his head to raise an eyebrow at him.
“Pay attention to me,” Buck whines to really play up his trophy husband role.
“Sweetheart, we’re in the middle of a game.” Eddie gives him a look.
Buck huffs.
“Lo siento, mi amor.” Eddie whispers to him and then drags his fingers in a soothing motion on Buck’s hip.
Buck’s trying really hard not to pay attention to the heat of Eddie’s fingers. It feels like Eddie’s touch is lighting him up.
Buck pouts at him. “But baby, I’m bored.”
Then he tugs at Eddie’s earlob with his teeth. He hears Eddie’s sharp intake of breath but he quickly schools his expression to one of exasperation.
“What did I say about behaving?” Eddie says back.
Buck just pouts, but he keeps his mouth shut.
Eddie turns back to the table with an exasperated expression. “Sorry about him. I told you he gets bored easily.” Eddie says.
“Poker not interesting enough?” Carrie asks with a hint of amusement on her face.
“No, he’s more into gossip. Scandalous stories and death. That sort of thing.” Eddie chuckles. “He’s always liked hearing about the more uncanny side of my work.” Eddie looks back at Buck with a fond expression.
“My wife is the same.” Another man at their table says with a smile. “I swear all she cares about is who got shot this week.”
“Did you hear about that murder on Sunset?” Buck pipes up with what he hopes is convincing excitement.
“I saw that.” The man answers. “It looked brutal.”
“Did you get to see the body?” Buck asks with wide eyes.
“Of course I did.” The man smiles in amusement.
Buck suspects that this man may have been there for the actual murder, but he’s not going to think about that right now.
“You’re so lucky!” Buck groans. “Babe, why can’t I see a dead body?”
Eddie gives him a look. “I’ll work on it, sweetheart.” Buck beams back at him like it’s Christmas.
Cards pass, and the game moves around them. The conversation flows to various topics. Buck and Eddie let it take its natural progression. Asking too many questions would be obvious so instead, they act mostly uninterested.
Buck wraps his right arm around Eddie’s neck and nestles closer to him. He’s getting a little tired. He has been sleeping a lot since the lightning strike, which is typical for a recovery but still very annoying.
His eyes are starting to get heavy. He sighs against Eddie’s neck.
“You tired, Evan?” Eddie asks him. He can tell Eddie wants to ask more. He’s been very overprotective since Buck died, but he can’t ask it here so that will have to do.
“Mhm.” He responds.
He feels Eddie press a kiss on his curls. It makes Buck feel all warm and loved.
“Just a little longer,” Eddie tells him, and Buck just lightly nods in response.
“You know I might have some gossip that would perk your hubby up. If you’re looking for a potential investment?” Carrie says.
Buck has to resist the urge to cheer. Finally.
“Oh yeah?” Eddie asks. “It just so happens that I am open to potential investment opportunities while we’re here. Hit me.”
“Well, my husband Trey and I run a bunch of rehabilitation centers here in California. It’s very well respected, and we pride ourselves on always having a high capacity of patients. We are very in demand.”
Eddie hums. “Why should I invest?”
“We’re the best in the state,” Carrie says primly.
“Is that it?” Buck lifts his head off of Eddie’s shoulder to pout. He turns back to Eddie. “Baby, I thought you said we were going to invest in interesting things from now on.”
“Now, Evan. Don’t be rude.” Eddie tells him. “I’m sure Carrie was just getting started. No need to get upset, mi amor.”
“But-”
“Lorenzo is right. I have much more planned for my business.” Carrie continues. “Why don’t you ask me how I keep it at such high capacity, Evan?”
Buck turns to Carrie. He feels a bit like a toddler being talked down to, but that seems to be the role of a trophy husband.
“How?” Buck asks with wide eyes, which really plays up the whole thing.
Carrie looks around before she lowers her voice. “We don’t actually cure them.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we establish a relationship of codependency and gratitude in our patients so that they always come back to us when they need it. We don’t give them any coping techniques, but we make them believe that they’re cured. They leave, and then they’re back a few weeks later. It’s a constant flow of people and revenue.”
“That’s genius!” Buck says in excitement, but in reality, he feels kind of sick.
Carrie chuckles. “I thought you might think so.”
Buck turns his head to face Eddie.
“Evan-” Eddie begins.
“Baby, please? This one is special I can feel it.”
“You can feel it, huh?”
“Yes.” Buck nods. “Please…” He begs, putting on his best puppy dog eyes for Eddie. Eddie makes a show of pretending to consider his offer.
Eddie sighs. “You know I like to see what I buy before I buy it.”
“We can see it. Can’t we?” Buck asks in excitement. He’s practically jumping up and down. He turns back to Carrie with a hopeful look on his face.
“I think that can be arranged.” Carrie agrees. She’s wearing an expression of someone who thinks they’ve won.
It makes Buck want to laugh.
“See!” Buck turns back to Eddie with a beaming smile.
Eddie chuckles. “Alright, baby.” He soothes his husband and then turns back to Carrie. “We’ll set up a meeting, but I-”
“Ahem.” Buck cuts off.
“We.” Eddie amends. “Are very interested.” Eddie finishes. “Isn’t that right, Evan?”
“It’s true. We are.” Buck tells Carrie. He uses his best expression, ‘I’m just a fratboy, and I don’t know anything.’ It’s definitely working.
“Perfect.” Carrie pulls a card out of her clutch. “Here’s my information so we can set something up.”
Eddie takes the card and puts it in his suit pocket with a smirk. Really this side of Eddie shouldn’t be as attractive to Buck as it is. Then again, Buck finds every side of Eddie attractive so.
They play another few hands until Eddie graciously loses to Carrie so as to not create resentment. It’s important that Carrie sees them both as dumb fools who are in love and have money to burn.
A man at the table lets out a low whistle as Carrie collects her winnings. “Impressive.”
“Thank you, boys,” Carrie says smugly. “It’s been a pleasure.”
The game breaks up after that with the various members of the table either taking a break, getting another drink, going home, or joining a different table.
“Ready to go, mi amor?” Eddie asks Buck, who has started almost dozing off on his shoulder.
“Mhm.” Buck mumbles.
“Alright, up we go, sweetheart,” Eddie says gently as they get to their feet.
Eddie puts an arm around Buck’s shoulder and pulls him into his side. Buck sighs in contentment. He loves being close to Eddie.
Eddie shoots him an amused glance.
The two of them walk out of the casino, looking every bit like the lovestruck fools they are supposed to be.
When they get back into the car, they don’t say anything until they are a few miles from the casino. Once they’re a safe distance away, they speak.
“That went well,” Buck says.
“Yeah, we did good,” Eddie answers softly.
“You think it’s enough to get a warrant?” Buck asks.
“Maybe.” Eddie shrugs. “They just admitted to manipulating their patients, but it wasn’t spelled out. They might need more.”
“Okay, so like a murder confession?”
“If we can get it, but it might be too risky.” Eddie thinks for a moment. “We can see what we can find when we check out the facility.”
“How are we going to be able to do that without being suspicious?”
“I don’t know yet. We’ll figure it out.” Buck just sighs.
“How are you feeling, actually?” Eddie asks.
“Tired, but okay, other than that.”
Eddie’s jaw tenses a bit.
“I’m okay, husband of mine.”
Eddie just scoffs at him and rolls his eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Yeah, but it got you to smile, didn’t it,” Buck tells him fondly.
As fun as tonight was, he’d always prefer his Eddie to the Eddie he’d had to be tonight. It’s a relief to have Eddie’s genuine smile back on his face.
And if Buck stares at Eddie’s smile for the whole way home, well, that’s no one’s business but his own.
It isn’t until they get inside and upstairs that Buck remembers their ‘only one-bed’ situation. He’s not at that broken up about it but that fact makes him feel bad, like he’s taking advantage of Eddie somehow.
Eddie gives him first shower and then Buck spends time puttering around the room while he waits for Eddie to be done. He’s pretty sure he unpacks and repacks the dresser like six times.
Eddie comes out of the bathroom dressed and ready for bed. He gets into bed, seemingly unbothered about the sleeping arrangements.
Buck can’t bring himself to join him just yet.
He hears Eddie sigh behind him. “Just come to bed, Buck,” Eddie says.
Buck hasn’t heard Eddie call him anything but Evan in a few hours. It’s both refreshing and startling at the same time. Then there’s also the fact that Eddie told him to ‘come to bed.’ How is he supposed to not picture other things with that sentence.
Regardless, he listens to his pretend husband and climbs into bed next to him.
They had texted checked in with Athena before bed. Eddie was right that while the information they had gathered was useful they needed more to make sure the charges would stick.
Then there was also the fact that May was refusing to check herself out of the facility until they could get Bobby out of jail. Buck things May gets her stubbornness from Athena. It has always made him smile at how alike they are.
He hears Eddie shift next to him to lay down more fully. Buck is leaning agains the headboard staring at himself in the giant mirror that’s over the dresser.
Eddie sighs again.
“What?” Buck asks.
“You’re thinking too hard,” Eddie answers. “Go to sleep.” He clumsily reaches his hand over Buck’s waist to encourage him to lay down.
Buck sighs and listens. He turns to lay on his side to face Eddie.
Eddie studies him for a moment. He seems content with whatever expression he sees because he closes his eyes and settles further into the pillow.
“Goodnight, Buck,” Eddie says softly.
“Goodnight, Eds,” Buck answers.
Eddie doesn’t move his arm from around Buck’s waist.
It takes Buck a few minutes to calm down enough to go to sleep.
He’s in so much trouble.